- Email: [email protected]
Doppler Echocardiography, 2nd edition
300X rwiews i Ini. J. Curdid.
300
meticulous records of birth weights, placental weights and weights of babies for one year would have been scrupulously recorded, the records preserved for up to 80 years, and for structure of the National Health Service to make it possible to trace such a large proportion of the survivors in late middle age. The striking association of low birth weight, and particularly low birth weight associated with a large placenta with an increased late prevalence of cardiovascular disease has now been replicated in a number of studies from different areas. At the same time, the researchers have taken a truly global geographical approach to the setting up of new epidemiologica ‘experiments’ to testing different aspects of their hypothesis. Studies have been reported from, or are in the process of being carried out in, centres as far a field as The Gambia and India. The potential implications for the future development of cardiovascular disease in rapidly developing countries is obviously very important. This book is essentially a collection of original articles, most of which have appeared in the British Medical Journal. They are accompanied by a sympathetic but not uncritical introduction by Robinson, an Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics and also a deputy Editor of the British Medical Journal. This makes it an invaluable source book for the serious research worker, but does not necessarily make for an easy read, even though the papers have been grouped into those dealing with particular approaches (e.g. geographical) or particular risk factors (e.g. glucose tolerance). It is clear from the current work of the Senior Editor and his group that many aspects of their thought have evolved and are continuing to evolve in the light of the results of successive studies and of other collaborative work. For example, susceptibilities to disease acquired by ‘programming’ utero or in infancy are clearly relative rather than absolute, and it is their interaction with environmental factors later in life which is going to determine the development of disease. It would have been helpful and interesting to have had a concluding chapter summing up the ways in which concepts have developed, and pointing out some directions for the future. Nevertheless this is an important source book which should be read and reread by all serious cardiovascular epidemiologists and which may, in time, become one of the very few books which makes a real impact on the worldwide prevalence of cardiovascular disease.
Cardiac
Toxicity
44 ( 1994)
After Treatment
299-301
for Childhood
Cancer J.T. Bricker, D.M. Green. G.J. D’Angio (Editors) Wiley-Liss, New York, NY, 1993; 133 pp.; ISBN o-47 l-59 107-6 This book comprises I4 invited presentations from the Second International Conference on the Longterm Complications of Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Cancer in 1992. Over half of all those diagnosed will live for at least five years and most of these will never have a recurrence of the original cancer. The management of this group of patients. particularly an understanding of the cardiac complications of therapy. including radiotherapy and drug treatment, is of increasing relevance to adult cardiologists. Other issues include availability of health and life insurance. educational and employment opportunities and marriage and reproduction. This 130-page well-referenced volume (with only one non-American contributor) is a useful contribution to the subject and highlights areas of controversy surrounding the direct effects of radiation therapy, anthracyclines and cyclophosphamide on the heart and emphasises the problems of monitoring and diagnosing cardiac damage. Because many survivors have had both radiotherapy and combinations of chemotherapy. it is difficult to be certain of any independent or possible synergistic adverse effects of treatments. The non-invasive and invasive cardiac assessment of these patients who often have sub-clinical cardiac damage is very difficult, and it is important for oncologists and non-cardiac pediatricians to understand the limitations of these diagnostic techniques. I thought the presentation of these data and the discussion of these techniques was an area of weakness but I enjoyed the sections on the pathology of anthracycline cardiotoxicity. the use of ~ardioprotectant agents and the discussion on cancer predisposing genes and predictive testing. Northwick Park Hospital Watford Road Middlesex. UK
SD1
Clive E. Handier Consultant Cardiologist
0167-5273(94)02003-2
David P. de Bono*
Doppler Echocardiography, SSDI 0167-5273(94)02002-Z *European Editor.
Internalionul
Navin Journal
qf‘ Curtfio1cq.t~.
C. Nanda
2nd edition
(Editor)
Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, ISBN 0-8121-1588-O
PA,
1993; 470 pp.;
Book reviews /hr.
.I. Cardioi. 44 (1994) 299-301
On searching for good books on echocardiography, one often comes across either very simplistic and very basic books, or else books that are so technically complex that they are very difficult to read. The second edition of Do~pIgr Ec~ocurdiogru~~y produces absolutely the right balance. It is a multi-author book based on echo laboratories in the United States and Canada, but the editor, Navin Nanda, from the University of Alabama, has done an excellent job in creating a comprehensive text, but without tedious repetition. The structure of the book is sensible. The first part is dedicated to an introduction to Doppler physics and equipment. The text is well written and very readable. Only the relevant principles and equations are covered in any detail. Following on, there is an exceptionally good section on the Doppler examination, covering all available modalities. This includes a very well illustrated guide through all the different planes that can be used, conventional and unconventional to acquire important data. Pitfalls of Doppler techniques are also discussed. The sections that follow are rather more specific. The sections on valve disease are useful and compare the data acquired with Doppler techniques to those obtained with haemodynamic facilities in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory. This section is also well illustrated, although in some areas, particularly for prosthetic valves, the illustrations and tables of different valve types need updating. Transoesophageal echocardiography is introduced at this point. Further sections
301
cover the use of Doppler in assessing left ventricular systolic and diastolic function and their application in ischaemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy and pericardial disease. A good basic and very readable chapter on abnormal cardiac anatomy precedes the application of Doppler techniques to paediatric and adult congenital heart disease and also to foetal studies. This is followed by a good chapter on the evaluation of carotid and vertebral disease, as well as to other peripheral vessels (limb and abdominal) both arterial and venous. The final section covers the growth and interest in intravascular and intracardiac ultrasound and its future potentials, as well as the use of intero~rative echocardiography (both epicardial and transoesophageal). These fields are expanding rapidly at present and accordingly these topics are only touched on. All in all this is a readable and extremely valuable book. It is well referenced. It is convenient for both physicians and technicians. It would be a very useful book to have on the shelf. South Cleveland Hospitat Marton Road Middlesbrough Cleveland TS4 3BW, UK SSDI
0167-5273(94)02017-D
MA. de Belder Consultant Cardiologist
300
meticulous records of birth weights, placental weights and weights of babies for one year would have been scrupulously recorded, the records preserved for up to 80 years, and for structure of the National Health Service to make it possible to trace such a large proportion of the survivors in late middle age. The striking association of low birth weight, and particularly low birth weight associated with a large placenta with an increased late prevalence of cardiovascular disease has now been replicated in a number of studies from different areas. At the same time, the researchers have taken a truly global geographical approach to the setting up of new epidemiologica ‘experiments’ to testing different aspects of their hypothesis. Studies have been reported from, or are in the process of being carried out in, centres as far a field as The Gambia and India. The potential implications for the future development of cardiovascular disease in rapidly developing countries is obviously very important. This book is essentially a collection of original articles, most of which have appeared in the British Medical Journal. They are accompanied by a sympathetic but not uncritical introduction by Robinson, an Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics and also a deputy Editor of the British Medical Journal. This makes it an invaluable source book for the serious research worker, but does not necessarily make for an easy read, even though the papers have been grouped into those dealing with particular approaches (e.g. geographical) or particular risk factors (e.g. glucose tolerance). It is clear from the current work of the Senior Editor and his group that many aspects of their thought have evolved and are continuing to evolve in the light of the results of successive studies and of other collaborative work. For example, susceptibilities to disease acquired by ‘programming’ utero or in infancy are clearly relative rather than absolute, and it is their interaction with environmental factors later in life which is going to determine the development of disease. It would have been helpful and interesting to have had a concluding chapter summing up the ways in which concepts have developed, and pointing out some directions for the future. Nevertheless this is an important source book which should be read and reread by all serious cardiovascular epidemiologists and which may, in time, become one of the very few books which makes a real impact on the worldwide prevalence of cardiovascular disease.
Cardiac
Toxicity
44 ( 1994)
After Treatment
299-301
for Childhood
Cancer J.T. Bricker, D.M. Green. G.J. D’Angio (Editors) Wiley-Liss, New York, NY, 1993; 133 pp.; ISBN o-47 l-59 107-6 This book comprises I4 invited presentations from the Second International Conference on the Longterm Complications of Treatment of Children and Adolescents with Cancer in 1992. Over half of all those diagnosed will live for at least five years and most of these will never have a recurrence of the original cancer. The management of this group of patients. particularly an understanding of the cardiac complications of therapy. including radiotherapy and drug treatment, is of increasing relevance to adult cardiologists. Other issues include availability of health and life insurance. educational and employment opportunities and marriage and reproduction. This 130-page well-referenced volume (with only one non-American contributor) is a useful contribution to the subject and highlights areas of controversy surrounding the direct effects of radiation therapy, anthracyclines and cyclophosphamide on the heart and emphasises the problems of monitoring and diagnosing cardiac damage. Because many survivors have had both radiotherapy and combinations of chemotherapy. it is difficult to be certain of any independent or possible synergistic adverse effects of treatments. The non-invasive and invasive cardiac assessment of these patients who often have sub-clinical cardiac damage is very difficult, and it is important for oncologists and non-cardiac pediatricians to understand the limitations of these diagnostic techniques. I thought the presentation of these data and the discussion of these techniques was an area of weakness but I enjoyed the sections on the pathology of anthracycline cardiotoxicity. the use of ~ardioprotectant agents and the discussion on cancer predisposing genes and predictive testing. Northwick Park Hospital Watford Road Middlesex. UK
SD1
Clive E. Handier Consultant Cardiologist
0167-5273(94)02003-2
David P. de Bono*
Doppler Echocardiography, SSDI 0167-5273(94)02002-Z *European Editor.
Internalionul
Navin Journal
qf‘ Curtfio1cq.t~.
C. Nanda
2nd edition
(Editor)
Lea & Febiger, Philadelphia, ISBN 0-8121-1588-O
PA,
1993; 470 pp.;
Book reviews /hr.
.I. Cardioi. 44 (1994) 299-301
On searching for good books on echocardiography, one often comes across either very simplistic and very basic books, or else books that are so technically complex that they are very difficult to read. The second edition of Do~pIgr Ec~ocurdiogru~~y produces absolutely the right balance. It is a multi-author book based on echo laboratories in the United States and Canada, but the editor, Navin Nanda, from the University of Alabama, has done an excellent job in creating a comprehensive text, but without tedious repetition. The structure of the book is sensible. The first part is dedicated to an introduction to Doppler physics and equipment. The text is well written and very readable. Only the relevant principles and equations are covered in any detail. Following on, there is an exceptionally good section on the Doppler examination, covering all available modalities. This includes a very well illustrated guide through all the different planes that can be used, conventional and unconventional to acquire important data. Pitfalls of Doppler techniques are also discussed. The sections that follow are rather more specific. The sections on valve disease are useful and compare the data acquired with Doppler techniques to those obtained with haemodynamic facilities in the cardiac catheterisation laboratory. This section is also well illustrated, although in some areas, particularly for prosthetic valves, the illustrations and tables of different valve types need updating. Transoesophageal echocardiography is introduced at this point. Further sections
301
cover the use of Doppler in assessing left ventricular systolic and diastolic function and their application in ischaemic heart disease, cardiomyopathy and pericardial disease. A good basic and very readable chapter on abnormal cardiac anatomy precedes the application of Doppler techniques to paediatric and adult congenital heart disease and also to foetal studies. This is followed by a good chapter on the evaluation of carotid and vertebral disease, as well as to other peripheral vessels (limb and abdominal) both arterial and venous. The final section covers the growth and interest in intravascular and intracardiac ultrasound and its future potentials, as well as the use of intero~rative echocardiography (both epicardial and transoesophageal). These fields are expanding rapidly at present and accordingly these topics are only touched on. All in all this is a readable and extremely valuable book. It is well referenced. It is convenient for both physicians and technicians. It would be a very useful book to have on the shelf. South Cleveland Hospitat Marton Road Middlesbrough Cleveland TS4 3BW, UK SSDI
0167-5273(94)02017-D
MA. de Belder Consultant Cardiologist